No ‘Silent Night’ for sporting heroes
Aoife O'Rourke won a gold medal at the World Games to qualify for next summer's Olympic Games in Paris. Picture: INPHO/Tom Maher
The year that was 2023 is almost done and dusted, but like everything else about Christmas, this Roscommon Herald reporter likes to leave things to the last minute.
So, this particular end-of-year review was only put together at a time when the Christmas presents were already under the tree, and it was time to start thinking about the final touches such as the glass of whiskey for Santa, and a few carrot sticks for Rudolph.
We’ve all been immersed in the traditional festive season experience for a good while and in that spirit, and because the traditional end-of-season review formats like A to Z or month-by-month recaps are about as inspiring as all the Bountys that are left over in tubs of Celebrations up and down the county right now, we’ve opted for something a little different. It’s a range of phrases you might hear around your home and locality this Christmas, as they pertain to sport in County Roscommon in 2023.
Yeah, we know we’d never get away with this sort of thing any other time of year, but you’re well-used to smiling when unusual offerings are put in front of you at Christmas, so let’s pretend we’ve put a ribbon on it so you have to accept it with good grace, and then we’ll dive right in!
Santa, or in this case JP McManus, was good to the GAA clubs of the county and the country when the Limerick currency trader announced that he was donating €1,000,000 to each county, on the proviso that the money be split between the GAA, LGFA and camogie clubs in each case.
The move ignited something of a debate here in Roscommon if it might be possible to set the funds aside for use on the planned Centre of Excellence instead, though just like Eartha Kitt, who felt she had “been an awful good girl”, no doubt the clubs feel like they’re due this little Christmas bonus.
Of course this could only refer to Aoife O’Rourke, who took top spot on the podium in the European Games in July, securing her ticket to the “City of Love” for the 2024 Olympic Games.
Could the Tarmon girl be in line for a little bit of silver or gold next summer? It has to be a possibility.
Roscommon’s Carroll, namely goalkeeper Conor, grew into quite the conductor of the orchestra over the course of 2023, culminating in his nomination for Young Footballer of the Year.
Like a soprano taking on Carol of the Bells, he plays a little bit high for the comfort of a lot of people, but with the rest of the playing choir singing from the same hymn sheet, it worked a treat.
Put this one in the misheard lyrics category, because Roscommon Golf Club’s Olivia Costello was the belle who was swinging all the way to success through 2023.
She kicked things off with a win on the Scottish Girls’ Open in April and following that up with the Irish Girls’ Amateur Open and top five finishes in the Irish Women’s Amateur Close and the European Young Masters, not to mention selection for several different international team competitions. Who needs a one-horse open sleigh when you’re slaying at Opens?
The Michael Glaveys intermediate men’s rounders team won the All-Ireland intermediate championship at the third time of asking. Having been defeated in their previous two finals, the team defeated Galway City Rapparees 16-5 to claim national glory in Kinnegad.
If you use a bat to play rounders at Christmas, does it become a Yule log? Now there’s a question.
Be careful who you say this to around Athleague.
Liam Gordon’s camógs had a great year, winning back the Bank of Ireland Cup and securing their place in an All-Ireland final, where they played well for 30 minutes. Sadly that wasn’t quite enough, and Granemore of Armagh — inspired by Player of the Match Rachael Merry, who scored 2-7 — were the winners of that showdown in Kinnegad a little over a fortnight ago.
Could you make a case for saying the same thing applies to the logic of spending so much money on bringing up the capacity of Dr. Hyde Park?
Okay, aspects such as the toilets and the dressing rooms absolutely needed to be addressed, but how important is it really, to take the capacity from a little under 19,000 to 25,000?
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of that question is that in all of this reporter’s time covering Roscommon county board meetings, there has never been a robust debate on whether or not this project should be a priority, given the alternative capital projects that are in need of completion here in the county.
Of course, that is only the case because the clubs of the county haven’t tried to make it into a big issue. Ask any coaches involved with county underage panels, and they might tell a different story.
Last week, no doubt anybody who was working away with marzipan, mixed peel, cherries and lots of other ingredients that never get used for anything else might have asked themselves similar philosophical questions when it came to baking Christmas Cake.
The opening lyrics to the famous Johnny Mathis song ‘A child is born’ could very well apply to Roscommon underage sport in 2023, where there were a number of notable team successes that bode incredibly well for the future.
Leaping off the page are the minor camógs, who secured All-Ireland glory with a dominant performance in their All-Ireland final against Laois in Birr, closely followed by the St. Joseph’s U-15 boys’ team, based in Monksland, who won National Cup honours, and the Convent of Mercy girls who won an All-Ireland Schools “B” football title, while also continuing to make waves in camogie and rugby.
Add in some groundbreaking successes for Creggs girls, a Croke Park appearance for the Roscommon U-20 hurlers, and international recognition for a handful of individuals across a number of sporting spheres, and there were plenty of stars lighting up the Roscommon sky.
This time last year, the Roscommon hurlers were preparing for the 2023 campaign with Francis O’Halloran at the helm.
Two months later he was gone, and Seámus Qualter came in to see the panel through to a successful conclusion of the league, before things petered out in the Nickey Rackard Cup. This coming Monday, the Kevin Sammon era gets underway with a game against Sligo at the Connacht GAA Air Dome in Bekan.
Roscommon hurling have made a habit of forming partnerships from out of town. Hopefully this particular relationship gives the county what it’s looking for.
It was a big comeback year at Falty Park for Moore United, culminating in their 1-0 win over Boyle Celtic in April that confirmed their first Roscommon District League title in 22 years. Charles Nevin was team captain and he led by example, scoring 19 goals across their campaign. In his entire staff, Basil Fawlty never had anyone so reliable.
This year’s campaign had an inauspicious start, with defeats to title rivals Ballinasloe Town and Boyle Celtic, but a win away to league leaders Ballaghaderreen proves that they can’t be ruled out of the mix just yet, even with just seven points on the board from five games.
Ballyforan was more of a Wynne-ter wonderland on October 14th, when Saoirse struck an early goal for Boyle in their county final clash with hot favourites Clann na nGael, while her sister Róisín went on to produce an absolute tour de force for the club, driving them to an historic county title win with a sensational performance from the half-back-line.
Like the three kings, who left it till the last day to arrive and get their job done, Boyle trailed going into the final quarter of the game and were playing into a strong wind at that point, up against a side with much more strength on the bench.
You could even say, it looked like they’d need a myrrh-acle to win from there.
This would be an appropriate metaphor for Roscommon’s 2023 Allianz Football League campaign, where three early wins meant that the team were ideally set up at the midway point in the season, but they still needed to get something out of the final round of games and their home clash with Donegal to guarantee safety.
As it turned out, it wasn’t nearly as panicked as all that, with 11 players scoring from play in a comfortable win. To the men reading this, we hope your Christmas Eve dash around the shops was every bit as comfortable.
Capable of getting into all sorts of unusual predicaments, but a tremendous source of fun and joy to those around him, always with a smile on his face, and never in need of more than his usual layer of clothing, even in the most wintry of conditions — Roscommon sport had their own Elf on the Shelf in photographer Mick McCormack, up until the sad occasion of his death last August.
Mick’s absence from the local scene makes it feel a lot more like January than Christmas, every time you go to a game. The Roscommon Herald wishes the best to his friends and family on their first Christmas without this charismatic, much-loved man.
No doubt plenty of people woke up on Easter Sunday morning, looked out the window and said to their partner “It looks like rain, dear”.
The weather over MacHale Park was every bit as groan-inducing as that appalling segue, but Roscommon made the most of it in order to record a truly memorable Connacht championship win over Mayo, an ambush that had been a while in the making.
Goals came at the right times, and a few lucky breaks went the way of Davy Burke and his men too, but after Mayo recorded a big win in the league clash between the two counties in the Hyde, this one would have felt particularly sweet, particularly to those living in frontier country around Ballinlough, Frenchpark or Loughglynn.
The late and great duo of Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl were singing about New York when they aired this memorable line, but it could just as easily have applied to the Sportsgrounds in Galway — that famously wintry venue where Creggs won a first Connacht J1A League title in 27 years back in February. The boys from The Green almost made a famous double but were pipped by Westport in the Cup final, showing that big days can be every bit as beautiful and bitter as that incredible song.
The announcement that planning permission had been granted for the new Dermot Earley COE on the Racecourse Road early this month was very welcome, as all around Roscommon, most of the neighbours seem to have their ducks in a row when it comes to training facilities, while controversially, some Roscommon underage sides had to train outside the county this year in order to be sure of getting guaranteed access to a venue.
Anyone driving to Roscommon and taking in venues like the Sligo COE in Scarden, or Leitrim’s base in Annaduff, or even the Faithful Fields in Offaly, which has been utterly transformative in that county’s football and hurling story, can only wish that Roscommon were similarly equipped.
Hopefully that infrastructure gap is set to be bridged very soon.
“…a five-goal win….”!
On December 5th, South Roscommon native Heather Payne was on the scoresheet as the Republic of Ireland hammered Northern Ireland 6-1 at Windsor Park. Since the World Cup, the national side have been on a sensational run of form, winning all six games in the Nations League, and the new recruit to Everton has been a mainstay of the side, lining out on the right wing.
Thankfully, that’s the only wing involved. There are no partridges, turtle doves, French hens or calling birds in this story.
There’s nothing like the aftermath of a boozy, seasonal company shindig when it comes to rumours and innuendo, with careers often derailing if events get sufficiently chaotic, or even if they just get recounted that way.
When Roscommon LGFA management committee members were told that approximately half the county’s senior panel were unwilling to come back in for 2024 if the 2023 management team was kept on, that led to the decision being made to terminate Ollie Lennon’s tenure as manager.
As it turned out, it wasn’t the former Kilbride manager who was to be the one to step away from their role, as the players came out to refute the story. After a couple of weeks in which Roscommon LGFA was a feature of the national sporting conversation for all the wrong reasons, an apology was issued to Lennon and his backroom team, and he is back overseeing preparations which are now ongoing for the upcoming league campaign, which kicks off in a little over three weeks with a home game against Down.
Like a pendulum, the axe swung back the other direction instead, and Roscommon Gaels clubman Declan Walsh was installed as the new Roscommon LGFA Chairperson at the body’s recent annual convention. A host of other changes were made to the executive, and a serious rebuilding process is no doubt underway.
One of the big stories of the 2023 club season was the measure proposed by a fixtures review group and voted through by Roscommon GAA clubs, to create divisional sides that would be granted two slots in the quarter-final stages of the Fahey Cup race.
As it turned out, only two divisional sides fielded, and it would be an exaggeration to say that there was widespread unity on the concept, particularly within West Roscommon where some clubs embraced the model, and others absolutely didn’t.
West Roscommon’s decent showing against Pádraig Pearses gave some encouragement to the concept, but St. Brigid’s firing seven goals past North Roscommon later the same evening put the whole experiment right back in the firing line.
Paralympian Richael Timothy is certainly one of the fastest Roscommon people on wheels, as she proved by winning two bronze medals at the World Paracycling Championships in Glasgow. The Ballymoe native won a bronze medal in the scratch race before sealing third place overall in the multi-event Omnium, which took into account all her events on the track.
She was also very competitive in the Individual Pursuit where she set a new PB and national record, the Individual Time Trial and road race at the championships, suggesting that she’s in good form and ready to make a serious bid for Olympic qualification.
In all bar one house in Roscommon this Christmas, that would refer to the item on top of the Christmas tree.
In the Smith household in Boyle, there’s a strong chance they might be talking about Enda’s brand new All-Star award, earned and awarded after what most people would regard as his best-ever season in the county colours.
To every Roscommon team, athlete, and indeed to every reader of the Roscommon Herald, this writer and this newspaper wishes you the best of everything in 2024.
However, first on the list for those good wishes has to be the footballers and supporters of St. Brigid’s and Castlerea St. Kevin’s, who have had a truly memorable 2023, and now have the chance to do something truly remarkable and reach an All-Ireland final.
Cork sides Castlehaven and Cill na Martra stand in the way of Roscommon’s two provincial champions, and no doubt the whole county will share our hope that they both begin 2024 exactly as they ended 2023 — with a famous victory that will be remembered for generations to come.
